Gideon is someone most people have heard of. He’s a heroic figure whose story of hundreds defeating tens of thousands strikes a legendary cord. For decades he has been held up as someone to be emulated and especially as the church becomes smaller and smaller, Gideon is one of those that preachers have said, why aren’t we more like Gideon, why cant we do the kinds of things he did and change the world around us?
Of course our situation and his are very different. For one thing no one, at least in this country would advocate armed resistance to the government. If Gideon were alive today he would probably be called a terrorist and his face would be plastered all over the internet with rewards for turning him in.
To the midianites and the amalekites he was public enemy number 1 and they would have liked nothing better than his head on pole.
Now would anyone in the churches today advocate sending home volunteers; imagine going to a church and being told there were too many people in that church so you should go home! Never going to happen.
His situation and ours were very different. I do want to draw you a picture though so you understand what it was that God asked Gideon to do.
When Israel settled Palestine after the exodus they didn’t actually drive out all the local tribes in one go. It took generations from the Exodus right up to David and Solomon’s kingdom for Israel to fully occupy the land. At first they managed to subdue those tribes living in the hills but not those in the coastal plains nor those migrant tribes living in the desert.
Because they were weaker it meant every harvest time these tribes would raid Israel and plunder her harvests, keeping her weak. No one up to now who had stood up to them had survived, so Israel pretty much had a broken spirit as a nation.
Look at verse 2 and see it says there the Israelites hid in the caves. Then look at verse 11 and see that Gideon was doing the harvesting in secret. He was no big freedom fighter, he was just a kid working the farms and living under oppression and trying to get by.
The Meat
This was the situation that God stepped into. If you read the Bible you will be amazed at how often God steps into situation that appear hopeless. His pattern doesn’t seem to be to step in when things are rosy but in response to people relying on him. It’s infuriating and it’s certainly not what he would like.
Gideon said to him, “If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the LORD is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the LORD used to do—how he brought them out of Egypt? The LORD has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites.”
(Judges 6:13)
I love this verse because that is exactly what any one of us would have said to God. Gideon who knows his history cannot understand why God has allowed this to happen. If he did all these great things before, if he beat down the biggest bad boy on the block in Egypt, then surely he could have done something about these Midianites and Amalekites?
Because life has been tough he demands some answers from God, he demands God explain himself. Yes if God proclaims how much he loves his people then he sure hasn’t show that love. Why, Gideon wants to know, why? The only conclusion he can make is God has left the people.
In speaking to a lot of people in the church today, especially those who lived through the 1960’s and 70’s there is the same frustration at what has been lost. They remember Sunday Schools full to the brim, they remember churches at the centre of their communities and they lament what is lost. In this congregation there was the 2nd biggest Sunday school in Scotland when trains were hired for the Sunday School picnic. And all that is no more. Why?
Wouldn’t it be great if God came here and explained why all this happened. Yet in scripture God does not answer our why’s. When Job took God to task for being unfair he was told, where were you when I created the world? God doesn’t do why.
Answering they why does not actually make anything different. God could well have told Gideon why it had happened but Gideon would still have been in the same wretched situation. If your neighbour breaks your window, they can tell you why but the window is still broken. Of more importance at that point is actually doing something about it.
When God responds to Gideon it is not the why. God is interested in doing something about the problem.
Gideon said to him, “If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the LORD is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the LORD used to do—how he brought them out of Egypt? The LORD has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites.” Then the LORD ordered him, “Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you.”
(Judges 6:13-14)
There is actually a good biblical principle in this, which we are going to explore. The calling of God is to make a difference, not to talk about what difference needs making.
First thing: Go!
Time and again through scripture you will find this command to go. Abraham was called on to go to the promised land. Moses had to go into the desert leading the nation of Israel, Jesus commissioned people to go into all the nations.
In fact the only point I am aware of in scripture where people are told to stay relates to the disciples when Jesus said stay in Jerusalem and wait for the spirit to come. Even then it was a temporary thing because they were waiting to go once the spirit had arrived. There is a biblical imperative, a motif in the scriptures that shows God wants people to go.
We sit here and we wait for people to come through that door and join us. We talk about people coming to church when in fact the bible says we do not wait, we need to go.
There is absolutely no point in sitting in here and saying we need to do this, we need to do that and not doing anything about it.
At some point there was a decision made in heaven to send Jesus to earth because we earthlings could not make it to heaven. He had to go to earth. So God asking us to go is actually a reflection of what he himself did through Jesus.
If you want this church to be full. If you want to see others worshipping God then each one of us needs to be prepared to go. We cannot wait here and open the doors hoping people will come because they will not. We need to go.
I remember at one point hearing a debate about what makes a good footballer. They spoke about speed, stamina, talent, all of these things. However one thing stood out; it was a person who never waited for the ball to come to them. They saw the opportunity and they moved to the ball.
Go. Read the Bible, it is all through it.
Second thing: with all your great strength
Gideon was from the smallest tribe from one of the smallest families. He was a nobody. He was such a nobody he was making wine in a secret cellar in case the Midianites turned up. However God saw more potential in Gideon than Gideon saw in himself.
What on earth was God doing calling him a person of great strength when clearly he had not displayed any strength up to that point?
Another biblical theme you will find is that God never asks anything of people they cannot do. God appears to have this innate ability to see the potential inside each one of us. Potential we are unaware of.
Who would think a bunch of rag tag fishermen and social misfits could start and found a worldwide movement that was going to dominate the globe centuries later?
Who would think the very person whose job it was to hunt down these new Christians would become the very person responsible for spreading the faith across the Roman Empire?
My Grace is sufficient for you is a biblical text that shows you are not asked to do something you cannot do. That of course does not mean it is something you want to do or something you will find easy to do. In fact you can be pretty much assured what God asks us to do will be difficult and hard; require time and energy and yes money. But it will not be impossible, it just might seem that way.
You probably sit here and think that this isn’t you but yes it is. You might not see your potential, God certainly does.
Third thing: rescue Israel from the Midianites
Gideon was given clear instructions from God about what he expected the outcome to be. He knew his task, he knew his calling. Doesn’t mean to say he thought it was achievable, however it is what God holds out for him.
Look through the Bible and see clearly that when God speaks he is clear about what he wants his people to do. Abraham was to move into the Promised Land and live there. Moses was to lead the people through the desert to go back to the land. All the prophets clearly understood the message they were to take, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc, etc.
The apostles were to become fishers of men. Paul was to take the gospel to the gentiles.
The commission we were left was:
Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:19-20)
You cannot get more clearer than that. As a Christian that is your calling. It is not to have the biggest or best church you can. It is not to have the deepest knowledge of the Bible. It is clear.
What is this church about, it is making disciples, teaching people to obey everything Christ has taught us. That is what we are about and that is our job. When we finally stand before God he is going to ask us how we went about doing our job…. Being the biggest and best will count for nothing.
Please note in this that God gave Gideon a task that might well have seemed impossible. To one man on in a big vat of grapes in a hidden cellar. A man with no military training and no standing in his country, it would be pretty impossible. Except that God never asks from you what you cannot do.
What is being asked of us is pretty clear.
The last part of this is: I myself am sending you
Gideon was being commissioned by God to do this.
He never went on his own strength or his own inclination but in response to and with God. That is what made all the difference.
Remember in the New Testament when Jesus is talking about the eye of a needle and how difficult it is for a rich man to be saved? He went on to say, what is impossible for man, is possible for God.
At the end of his great commission he also said, I am with you always, to the end of the age. When he left he said that God was sending another to be with us so we would not be alone. Of course he meant the Holy Spirit.
Gideon was doing this in the strength of God and with the authority of God. Isn’t it interesting that rather than have a huge force of soldiers, God whittled them down to 300. It was not their smallness that bothered God, it was their huge numbers.
When the film the Lord of the Rings came out I was at the cinema. It was the 3rd instalment, The Return of The King and the 2 hobbits had almost completed their journey. They were taking refuge in a very barren landscape before the final trek up the mountain where they expected to die.
Sam turns to Frodo and says “Even little people can change the world”
What made their victory so great was their own weakness.
But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me. I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Paul wrote those words when he was talking about his weakness before God.
If you and I try and do this on our own strength we might as well go home. The only way we can do this is in the strength of God.
Conclusion
So from our look at Gideon this is what we have to think about:
- The command to go.
- The potential God sees in each of us
- The clarity of our call
- The sufficiency of God
As you leave here, please think and pray about how each of these are working themselves out in your life.
Amen.
